Method of making double-piped buttonholes



United States Patent [72] Inventor Patsy R. Lepore Roselle Park, NJ.

[21 Appl. No. 725,652 [22] Filed May 1, 1968 [45] Patented Dec. 15, 1970 [73] Assignee McGregor-Doniger Inc.,

' New York, N.Y.

a corporation of New York [5 4] METHOD OF MAKING DOUBLE-PIPED 1,945,104 1/1934 Zilinsky 112/405 Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin Attorney-Shenier & OConnor ABSTRACT: An improved method of making a double-piped buttonhole in which the garment front and facing first are simultaneously cut in the area of a window in the interliner to provide flaps which can be folded back on the inner surfaces of the front and of the facing to form the buttonhole garment opening. Next, adhesive is applied to the inner surfaces of the front and facing in the region of the cuts, the flaps are folded back and adhered on the inner surfaces. Next, the double welt length is positioned within the window with the rolled edges of the welts at the center of the garment buttonhole opening and stitching is applied around the periphery of the opening thus to complete the buttonhole.

PATE NTED DEC] 5 I970 fsnm 2 or 3 PRIOR FIRT Pafsy R. 138 30,? BY

6 TTORNYEYS Q 7 PATENTEBDEMSIQYB 8541060 SHEET 3 OF 3 E 5 I *F i3 INVENTOR.

P7 R L B155 e oore H T TO PNEYS METHOD OF MAKING DOUBLE-PIPED BU'ITONl-IOLES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The latest fashions in both mens and ladiesgarments make extensive use of the double-piped buttonhole. A double-piped buttonhole is one in which two strips of welted material are secured in an opening in the garment in such a manner that the rolled edges of the welt strips abut to form the buttonhole slit. Portions of the welt strips are left exposed to view at the garment opening to enhance the appearance thereof. The method of forming double-piped buttonholes used in the prior art involves a great deal of handwork by skilled workers and is consequently expensive. Not only is the method of forming double-piped buttonholes in the prior art expensive, but also the resultant buttonhole is not as neat as is desirable. This results from the fact that the facing and front openings do not always register precisely and the fact that the method involves the use of extra stitching in certain regions. Moreover, the double-piped buttonhole formed by the method of the prior is somewhat bulky in the region surrounding the buttonhole thus detracting somewhat from the appearance of the garment.

I have invented a method of making double-piped buttonholes which is less expensive to practicethan is the method SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One object of my invention is to provide an improved .method of making double-piped buttonholes which overcomes the defects of the method presently used in the prior art.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved method of making double-piped buttonholes which is simpler than is the method known in the prior art.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved method of making double-piped buttonholes which is less expensive to practice than is the method known in the prior art.

Still another object of my inventionis to provide an improved method of making double-piped buttonholes which are less bulky and neater than are double-piped buttonholes produced by the method employed in the prior art.

Other and further objects of my invention will appear from the following description. I

In general, my invention contemplates the provision of an improved method of making double-piped buttonholes in which I first form a window in the interliner of the garment at the location at which a buttonhole is to be made. I next simul-- taneously cut both the garment front and the garment facing at that location to provide flaps adapted to be folded back BRIEF DESCRIPTION or me DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings which form part of the instant specification and which areto be read in conjunction therewith and in which like reference numerals are used to indicate like parts in the various views:

FIG. I is a front elevation of one type of garment which may be provided with a double-piped buttonhole made by my improved method.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of one of the doublepiped buttonholes of the garment shown in FIG. 1 taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and drawn on an enlarged scale.

,1 FIG. 3 is a perspective view of two welted strips of buttonhole-forming material tacked together at spaced locations along the length thereof.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view illustrating a step in the method employed in the prior art to form a doublepiped buttonhole.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating another step in the method employed in the prior-art to form a doublepiped buttonhole.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a still further step in the method of the prior art used to make a double-piped buttonhole.

FIG. 7is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating an initial step in my improved method of making double-piped buttonholes.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating another step employed in my method of making double-piped buttonholes.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a further step in my method of making double-piped buttonholes.

FIG. 10 is a side elevation of a jig which I employ in one step of my improved method of making double-piped buttonholes.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating the step of my improved method performed by use of the jig illustrated in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary plan view of an alternate form of double-piped buttonhole which I may make with my improved method of making double-piped buttonholes.

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary plan view of a further form of double-piped buttonhole which I may make by use of my method.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, in FIG. 1 l have illustrated a garment such as a jacket indicated generally by the reference character 10 which is provided with a plurality of buttons 12 adapted to be inserted through respective double-piped buttonholes indicated generally by the reference character 14 to hold the jacket on the wearers body. The jacket 10 includes a front 16 and a facing 18 and an interliner 20, which, as is known in the art, are sewed together along a line by stitching 22 and are separated and folded back to form the finished edge of the garment. As is also known in the art, where the garment is provided with a lining, it is attached to the facing 18.

The garment 10 is provided with an opening 24 in a manner to be described at the location at which the buttonhole 14 is to be formed. The buttonhole proper is formed by a pair of welted strip lengths 26 and 28 which are secured between the front 16 and the facing 18 by any suitable means such as by stitching 29. The rolled edges of two welted strip lengths 26 and 28 extend inwardly to the center of the opening 24 to provide the buttonhole slit.

As will be described'in detail hereinafter, material for forming double-piped buttonholes pursuant to my method is sup plied in the form of continuous strips 30 and 32 of material such as, for example, suede or the likewhic-h are rolled or welted and stitched along their raw edges by sewing 34. Respective transversely extending tacking stitches 36 hold the two welted strips 30 and 32 together with their rolled edges adjacent each other. The separation between successive widely spaced lines of tacking stitches is approximately equal to the width of the buttonhole to be formed.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 to 6 for a better understanding of my improved method of making double-piped buttonholes, there are illustrated some of the steps of the method employed in the prior art to form double-piped buttonholes. In the prior art, rather than using welted strips 30 and 32 tacked together with their rolled edges adjacent each other, there are employed welted strips 38 and 40 held together with their raw edges abutting by lines of tacking stitches 42. Stitching 44 may be provided to hold the raw edges of each strip together. A sufficient length of the tacked strips to form one buttonhole is cut and is then placed on the outer surface of the garment front 16 at which the buttonhole is to be formed with the adjacent raw edges of the strips 38 and 40 aligned with what is to become the buttonhole slit. With the length of strips 38 and 40 sopositioned, the facing 18 and the interliner 20 are pulled away from the inner surface of the front and the two strips 38 and 40 are secured in position by lines of stitching 46 and 48 which are located about halfway across the width of the respective strips.

Following the operation just described, the front 16 is turned over and with the interliner 20 and the facing 18 held away from the front, the material of the front is slashed or cut to form flaps such as can be bent back to form a buttonhole of the desired shape. Considering the instance in which the buttonhole is to be generally rectangular, the material is slashed to provide a central transverse cut 50 and respective diverging cuts 52 and S4 at the ends of the cut 50. Thus there are formed two generally trapezoidal fiaps 56 and 58 at the top and at the bottom and a pair of side, generally triangular, flaps 60 and 62.

After slashing the front 16 to form the flaps, the strips 38 and 40 are pushed in through the cuts from the outer surface of the front and at the same time are turned inside out. As a result of this operation, all of the flaps 56, 58, 60, and 62 are bent back on the inner surface of the front 16 and the rolled edges of the strips 38 and 40 come together to form the buttonhole slit. Next, lines of stitching 64 and 66 are applied to join the ends of the lines 46 and 48 to hold the strips 38 and 40 and the triangular flaps 60 and 62 down on the inner surface ofthe front.

All of the operations thus far described are performed on the garment front. Next, it is required that registering openings for the buttonhole be formed in the interliner and in the facing. These operations are achieved by slashing the interliner and the facing in the same manner as was done on the front of the garment. In the method of the prior art, these operations are all performed by hand and great care must be exercised to insure that the opening in the facing and the opening in the interliner are properly aligned. Moreover, the flaps formed by these openings must be held back while another line of stitching is applied around the periphery of the buttonhole from the back of the garment to complete the buttonhole. It will readily be appreciated that the interliner flaps add undesirably to the bulk of material around the buttonhole. Also, the additional line of stitching around the periphery of the buttonhole detracts from the appearance of the garment. Owing to the difficulty of aligning the front, interliner and facing openings, the lines of stitching may not be parallel. That is, no'tonly is this stitching excess, but it is nearly impossible to align it with the stitching which was used to hold the buttonhole-forming welt material to the garment front.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 to 11, in my improved method of making double-piped buttonholes, l first form the interliner 20 with windows 68 at the locations at which buttonholes are to be provided in the garment. It will be readily be appreciated that l may form the windows 68 in the interliner 20 before it is incorporated in the garment. Having formed the window 68, and, with the front and facing in overlying relationship as shown in FIG. 8, I next simultaneously cut both the facing 18 andthe front 16 to provide each of these layers with openingforming flaps. The flaps 56, 58, 60, and 62 are identical with those formed by the method of the prior art. Simultaneously there are formed similar flaps 70, 72, 74, and 76 in the facing 18.-

When the opening-forming flaps have been cut, I next apply adhesive over the flap area and over the area of the inner surface of each of the front and the facing against which the flaps areto be folded. This adhesive is indicated by the stippled areas 78 and 80 in FIG. 9. Further, in this FIG., I have illustrated the outline of the flaps after folding by dot-dash lines.

Referring now to FIG. 10, l have shown a jig indicate generally by the reference character 82 which I may advantageously employ in practicing my method. Jig 82 includes two leaves 84 and 86 connected by a piano hinge 88 and secured to a base 90. After the adhesive hasbeen applied in the manner described hereinabove, first one and then the other of the front and of the facing 18 are pushed down over the leaves 84 and 86 with the leaves extendingthrough the cuts and with the adhesive side up. Next, the two leaves are spread as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 11 and are flattened against the. base 90 to fold the flaps 56 and 58, for example, back on the inner surface of the front 16 in which positions they are held in place by the adhesive. At the same time, the two little triangular flaps 60 and 62 can be manually bent back onto the inner surface so as to be held in place.

When the steps of my method thus far described have been completed, there are formed an opening in the front 16 and an opening in facing 18, both of which openings are aligned and which openings are within the area of a window 68. I next take a cut length of the welt or piping strips 30 and 32 and place them in registry with the opening formed in the facing and tack the length at locations which depend upon the length of the finished buttonhole. Next, the facing and the front can be brought together with the welt strips 30 and 32 sandwiched between the two, and the stitching 29 can be applied around the entire periphery to complete the buttonhole.

As an alternative to the procedure just described, l may merely adhere the length of the welt strips to the facing, fold the facing back on the front, and then apply the stitching 29. Whichever procedure is followed, there will be only a single line of stitching around the periphery of the buttonhole visible at the front of the garment. Moreover, owing to the fact that I provide the window 68 in the facing 20, my buttonhole is not as bulky as are buttonholes formed by methods of the prior art.

In summary, to practice my improved method of making double-piped buttonholes, I first cut both the facing and the front in the region of the window 68 to form the two sets of opening-forming flaps. I apply the adhesive in the areas 78 and 80, and, using the jig 82, fold the flaps back to form the buttonhole openings in the front 16 and in the facing 18. Next, a length of welt strips 30 and 32 is either tacked by stitching or adhered in position with respect to the opening in the facing 18. The facing is brought back toward the front and the stitching 29 is applied.

Referring now to FIGS. 12 and 13, I have shown two alternate forms of double-piped buttonhole which can be made by my method. FIG. 12 shows a diamond-shaped buttonhole 89, while FIG. 13 shows a triangular buttonhole 91. It will readily be appreciated that I may make other various forms of double-piped buttonhole by use of my method. The principal difference in forming the buttonholes will be the configuration of the cuts required to make the openings. There may further be required some modification of the jig 82.

It will be seen that I have accomplished the objects of my invention. I have provided an improved method of making double-piped buttonholes which overcomes the defects of methods of the prior art. My method is less expensive to practice than are methods of the prior art. It is simpler and more expeditiously performed. Buttonholes produced by my method are neater and less expensive than are buttonholes resulting from the practice of methods of the prior art.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of my claims. It is further obvious that various changes may be made in details within the scope of my claims without departing from the spirit of my invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that my invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described.

lclaim:

l. A method of making a double-piped buttonhole in a garment having a front and a facing including the steps of, first,

concomitantly cutting registering flaps in said front and in said facing, then folding said flaps back onto the respective surfaces of said front and of said facing to form registering openings in said front and in said facing, then securing said folding flaps to said respective surfaces, positioning pipingforming material between said facing and said front at said openings, and finally concomitantly securing said material to said front and said facing.

2. A method as in claim 1 including the; step of forming a window in an interliner of said garment, said registering openings being located within said window.

3. A method as in claim 1 in which said cutting step comprises positioning said facing and said frontin superposed relationship and die cutting said superposed facing and front to form said flaps. I

4. A method as in claim 1 in which said securing step comprises applying adhesive to the respective inner surfaces of said front and said facing in the region ofsaid flaps before performing said folding step arid pressing said flaps against said surfaces.

5. A method as in claim 1 in which said material securing step comprises stitching said material to said front and to said facing around the periphery of said registering openings.

6. A method as in claim 1 in which said positioning step comprises stitching said material to theinner surface of said facing at the facing opening.

7. A method as in claim 1 in whichsaid positioning step comprises adhering said material to the inner surface of said relationship, concomitantly cutting opening-forming flaps in said front and in said facing, separating said front and said facing, applying adhesive to respective inner surfaces of said front and of said facing in the region of said flaps, folding said flaps back on said inner surfaces to adhere them thereto to form openings in said front and in said facing, placing said front and said facing in superposed relationship with said openings registering and with said openings disposed within the area of said window, positioning a length of double welt between said front and said facing at said openings and stitching through said front and said welt and said facing around the periphery of said registering openings.

9. A method as in claim 8 in which said step of folding comprises placing said front over a flat surface while passing vertically extending hinged tongues through the cut in said front and swinging said tongues away from each other toward said surface to fold said flaps onto the inner surface of said front.

10. In a garment, a front, an interliner having a window therein, a facing, means for holding said-front and said inter liner and said facing in assembled relationship, an opening in said facing within the area of said window, .a registering opening in said front, a length of double welt disposed within said window between said front and said facing and extending across said openings, and stitching extending through said front and said welt and said backing around the periphery of said openings.

11. In a garment as in claim 10 in which said stitching comprises only a single line of stitching visible at the front of said garment.

12. In a garment as in claim 10 folded back flaps at the edges of said openings and adhesive between said flaps and the inner surfaces of the facing and front. 

